The General
by lucelafonde
Summary: Post CoE for Jack, some time after Journey's End for the Doctor  The Doctor thinks he owes Jack one more trip before he sends him back to earth. They both need something to distract them. What could possibly go wrong?


When the Doctor stumbled out of the TARDIS, he knew this was it. He had promised Jack one trip before he would send him back to earth again. Who were they kidding? It needed protection, and the Doctor couldn't ALWAYS be there. Nonetheless, after losing Ianto Jack had lost himself. He had been drifting through time without purpose, so the Doctor had been BOUND to notice eventually. It was the TARDIS who had decided something had to be done about that though. She had dropped him off in some crappy bar on Nazgar 8, a constellation the Doctor hadn't even known existed. Jack obviously had gone out of his way not to be found. He had been faintly surprised when he noticed the man in the suit standing at the other end of the bar. He had just frowned and jumped on board the TARDIS, like he always would.

The Doctor realized they hadn't spoken about anything that had happened, but he hoped this trip would mean they didn't have to. Something to keep their minds busy. Both men weren't exactly at their best, trying to make the pain fade. One had lost a lover, the other his best friend. Worse than that: it wasn't the first time and they knew it sure as hell wouldn't be the last. The Doctor sighed. He was better off than Jack, that he knew. The man had all of eternity on his hands. There were MUCH worse things out there in time, just waiting to happen to him. Some of them the Time Lord even knew about. Couldn't tell him though. Fixed points and stuff.

"This better be good," Jacks voice came from behind him. "Otherwise you owe me a drink."

"Are you implying that there has been only ONE occasion on which it HASN'T been good?" the Doctor pouted.

"Hm…" The Captain seemed to think this over as he stopped to stand beside him. "DEFINE 'good'. What do you call running for your life on a constant basis?"

"Bloody brilliant!" The Time Lord grinned and started moving.

"Great. I know how THIS day's gonna end…" Jack mumbled, but he was smiling too. Anything to distract from the memories. Maybe running wasn't such a bad idea.

"Do you have any idea where we are or is this another 'Hey, look were the TARDIS dropped us off!' thing?" he asked after a few steps. They were on board a spaceship, that he knew. A pretty nice one at that. Jack was impressed. And just a tad jealous. It had been decades since he had last seen a beauty like this.

"Not the faintest." The Doctor shrugged and kept going. "Isn't that fun? It's fun, admit it. Not knowing is fun."

"Whatever you say, Doc," he mumbled and looked around some more. "Nice surface!"

"Oh, I bet you say that to all the girls," a voice in front of them suddenly said. Jack drew his gun faster than he could turn to face the stranger, but it still wasn't quick enough. When he did stand face to face with the voice's owner, he was already staring into a blaster's barrel.

"More like everything living and somehow able to move, but you got the principle," the Doctor said calmly, his eyes never leaving the weapon.

"Wouldn't expect anything less from a time traveller," the person in front of them acknowledged.

It was a woman, mid-twenties, short black hair, sticking up like it was defying gravity itself, piercing blue eyes. Her posture gave away her military background in a heartbeat. The Doctor sighed. He really hated weapons.

"How do you know we're time travellers?" Jack asked suspiciously, gun still pointing at the girl.

"Please." She frowned. "World War 2? Seriously? You might as well carry around a sign."

"You think my coat is weird and are not bothered by the fact that he," he pointed at the Doctor, "is wearing a suit? On a spaceship?"

The woman gave him a once-over.

"I like it." She nodded eventually. "It's classy, yet not too elegant. Great hair, by the way."

"Thank you," the Doctor grinned and his hand shot up to make it even more stick up in a reflex.

"How is his hair better than mine?" Jack pouted. He didn't like how this was going. HE was supposed to be the irresistible one. "And in what world is a suit cooler than a World War 2 coat?"

She stared at him for a few moments, then she started chuckling.

"You're not used to not being the centre of attention, are you?" she laughed. "Don't worry, Pretty Boy. You look just as great. And I DO love your gun. Haven't seen one of those in AGES. What is it? 21st century? You're a long way from home."

"Actually, I'm from the 51st century. I just got… a bit stranded."

"In the 21st century?" she said in disbelief. "Poor boy."

"Tell me about it…"

"Erm… Excuse me for interrupting, but…" the Doctor said. "Could you please put the weapons down? Guns make me kind of nervous."

"What?" the girl looked at her still-outstretched arm. "Right. Sorry." She put the blaster back into her leather-jacket. Jack did the same with his gun.

"Where ARE my manners?" she said and saluted suddenly. "General Clyde Beckett."

"I'm the Doctor, this is Captain Jack Harkness," the Time Lord said and pointed at his companion. "And please don't do that."

"Ah, can't take the military out of a soldier, Doc." She winked at him. "Ask your friend here. Captain, is it? So the coat's not just for show then? You really did serve?"

"Sure did." Jack smiled as irresistibly as he could possibly manage.

"Good. I like a handsome soldier by my side when going to war. Keeps the attention away from me."

"What?" the Doctor asked confused. A bad feeling started to spread through his body. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear whatever the General would say next.

"What did YOU think this was?" she laughed. "You appear right in the middle of the commanding ship in one of the greatest intergalactic wars of all space and time and look at me like I just told you that you just appeared right in the middle of the commanding ship in one of the greatest intergalactic wars of all space and time!"

"Weeell…" The Doctor shifted uncomfortably. "To be fair: You DID just tell us."

"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" she asked in disbelief.

"He so is," Jack said more or less helpfully.

"What kind of time travellers are you?" the General chuckled. "Who doesn't know when and where he's going?"

"Someone who likes to press pretty buttons," the Captain sighed. "Doc, maybe we should leave."

"You're right. We really should go," the Doctor agreed and made for the TARDIS.

"And where to, exactly?" Beckett asked. "It's not like you'll make it out of here alive."

"Our ship's right down that… corridor…" The Time Lord stared into the emptiness of space before him.

Well, empty in this case meant right at a giant fleet of spaceships just waiting to attack, but that didn't change the fact that there used to be another room, NOT a window into space.

"Sorry 'bout that." The General shrugged. "We got hit three minutes ago. That part of the ship's gone."

"Hit? But we didn't feel anything!" He started to panic.

Beckett stared at him like he just suggested that Jelly Babies sucked.

"Of course not," she said eventually. "This is MY ship. You wouldn't even feel death if you died here. This is the best… ANYTHING you could possibly find in all of time and space. Look at it," she pointed to the window that used to lead into another room, "they destroyed that part of the corridor and not only did you not feel it, the ship also repaired itself in a nanosecond so we wouldn't get sucked into space. Pretty cool, huh? Took me 15 years to build this baby."

She stroked the walls affectionately.

"You must have started early then," Jack said, trying to stay calm. He was a soldier after all. He could deal with a little war every now and then. "You don't look a day over 25."

"Honey, I started building things as soon as I shot out of my mother. The only reason it took me this long to come up with a decent ship was because this stupid era didn't have all the things I needed," she explained. "Had to invent the Vortex manipulator first to get all that stuff. You're welcome, by the way." She pointed at his wrist.

"You're telling me YOU came up with this?" Jack asked sceptically.

"As I said: You're welcome," she smiled. "I can only assume your time machine is one of mine, too?"

"I… REALLY doubt that," the Doctor chuckled.

"Oh? You're pretty sure of yourself, aren't you? Well, we'll find out, I'm sure." She shrugged. "But first we need to take care of that," she pointed to the fleet outside the window, "I've been gone for FAR too long. We need to head back to the central. Real quick. They're about to vaporize this part of the ship."

And with that, she ran. The Doctor and Jack didn't need to get told twice. Running was their specialty.

As soon as they made it to the next corridor, the other one was gone. The Doctor stared in horror at the point in space that used to be solid ground under their feet.

"How did you know that?" he asked, the shock clearly visible on his face.

"Hm?" the General made, clearly absentminded. "Told you: This is my ship. It KNOWS where it's about to get hit next and tells me before it does. Really simple."

"It KNOWS where it's about to get hit?" the Time Lord asked surprised.

"Of course!" she said impatiently. "Minor changes in the perception of the time vortex. Nothing big. Just a few seconds ahead in time, this baby here." She stroked the walls again.

"Just a few… WHO ARE YOU?" the Doctor asked, clearly agitated now.

"A genius." She shrugged. "Look, we can discuss this later. We have to get to the bridge before it disappears too."

She started running again, and considering what had happened only a few minutes ago, the Doctor and Jack didn't really feel like staying too far away from the ship's owner, so they followed her.

When they arrived at the commando central, the Doctor noticed one thing.

"There's no one here," he said and looked around one more time, just to make sure.

"Yep," the General said and sat down on a chair right in the middle of the room.

"Where's your crew?" he asked confused.

"I don't have one."

"What?"

"I don't LIKE having other people on my ship. Consider yourself lucky I didn't throw you out," she said and then suddenly stopped mid-movement. "Although… Considering our current situation, maybe you would have preferred that."

"How do you control the ship ALL ON YOUR OWN?" the Time Lord asked in disbelieving awe.

"Watch and learn, Doc." She smiled, leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

Only then the Doctor noticed something else: There were no… THINGS in this room. No consoles, no levers, no nothing. Literally the only thing here was the chair the General was currently sitting in. The wall in front of them was made of glass, so they could stare right at the fleet of ships, just waiting to attack them. That was when another thing struck him.

"Where's your backup?" the Doctor asked.

"My what?" Beckett asked, obviously not in the mood for talking.

"You know: Your troops, your men, your… SOMETHING. You can't be all on your own out here!"

"And why not?" she asked, not really paying attention.

"Because this is suicide!" the Time Lord yelled in disbelief. "You're just WAITING for them to get you!"

"I can assure you, I'm not planning on dying," she said with a strong voice. "The reason I'm alone out here is easy: I will survive. My men wouldn't. I don't see why I should risk anyone's life when I can do this on my own."

"You're either incredibly deluded or incredibly smart," the Doctor murmured. "And I'm not sure either is a good thing."

"Oh, I KNOW it's not," she giggled. "Hold on tight, boys! This will be unpleasant."

Neither Jack nor the Doctor hesitated for so much as a second. Since the only thing in the room was the chair, they clung to it for dear life. While they hadn't been able to feel parts of the ship get destroyed, they could feel what was happening now all the better. Beckett's ship seemed to explode, and the full force of that energy hit the fleet surrounding them. They didn't stand a chance. In a second's time, everything that used to be out there was… gone.

The General jumped up, out of her seat and made for the door.

"Come on, boys!" she yelled. "You really don't want to be here in the next 2 minutes."

"What was that?" Jack and the Doctor asked in unison, but chased after her as she made her way through the ship that seemed to be getting constantly hotter all of a sudden.

"Explanations later, running now!" she screamed and threw herself at a door. It snapped open, and the other two jumped after her. She closed the door behind them as quickly as she had opened it and dropped on the floor, leaning against it.

"Wow." She breathed a sigh of relieve. "That was closer than I thought."

"What was?" Jack asked, standing up, dusting his coat.

"I think her ship just exploded," the Doctor guessed and sat down beside her on the floor.

"Not bad, Doc," she giggled and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"What do you mean?" the Captain asked confused.

"You felt that sudden surge of power destroying the fleet around us?" the Time Lord asked.

"Yes, but…"

"Well, that was her ship. Exploding. On a HUGE scale."

"But… We were on it. It couldn't have…" Jack said, then something seemed to dawn on him. "Aaah… Right. Changes in the perception of the time vortex. Works both ways then? Ahead and behind in time?"

"Yes," she yawned and snuggled closer to the Doctor. "Took all my energy to do it. Worked great though. SO worth it…"

"You're not… dying on us now, are you?" the Time Lord asked, looking sceptically down on her.

"Don't be stupid. I'm just exhausted…" she mumbled. Jack watched her put her arms around the Doctor and smiled. What a girl. Then he noticed something.

"Wait a minute…" he said slowly. "If the whole ship exploded… Where ARE we now?"

"Don't you recognize it?" she chuckled.

He looked around. He DID recognize it. How was that possible?

"How is that possible?" he asked. "The room it was in…"

"Got vaporized, yes." She sighed. "Your ship's a fighter though. Survived without a scratch. Was just drifting through space. I located her, called her to my ship and then BANG! we jumped right into her. Easy as pie."

"You CALLED her?" the Doctor asked. "You can't just CALL a ship, especially not mine. She doesn't listen to anyone but me!"

"Don't get all jealous on me, Space Boy," she mumbled, definitely falling asleep now. "Told you she was one of mine…"

And with that she was gone, probably unconscious. The Time Lord and Jack stared at her in disbelief. The Captain finally said what both of them were thinking.

"She can't have built the TARDIS," he said, but he didn't even sound convincing to his own ears, let alone the Doctor's. "I thought she was a Time Lord invention!"

"She IS," her owner said, but there was this look on his face that told Jack something was going on. Something was very, very wrong.

"What are you thinking?" he asked softly and dropped down beside him.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully. "But something's not right here."

The Doctor suddenly started to go through the pockets of the girl's jacket. He almost gave up, but then he found something. For a second, he stopped all motion. Jack would have thought him dead if he didn't know better. Then the Time Lord started to pull out his hand from under the jacket, a horrified expression on his face. He didn't dare to look on the object in his hands, but he didn't have to. It was so obvious. All the time he had had this weird feeling when he looked at her, like he was missing something. A connection his brain refused to make. Like he had already met her. Like he knew her. And now he knew why.

Everything he had meant to forget seemed to come back from the deepest corners of his soul as he stared down on the silver fob watch.

"Doctor?" Jack asked carefully. "Are you alright? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"I have," he answered in a broken voice, tears threatening to fall down his face. "And I created him."

"What?" the Captain looked confused and slightly freaked out. He didn't like where this was going. The Doctor didn't lose his cool this easily. Something was very, VERY wrong.

"This watch," the other man held it up so Jack could take a better look, "is a Chameleon Arch. It… well, it basically stores the memory and biology of a Time Lord."

"I'm not following," Jack said, but that was a lie. He was. He had seen it before after all. What had happened to the Master was something he would never forget.

"Jack," the Doctor said in his most serious voice, "she's a Time Lord."

"But… that… that's…" Jack wanted to say that's impossible, but he knew it wasn't. All he could do now was hoping that she wouldn't turn out to be as crazy as the last one he met.

Considering what they had just experienced, this hope was crumbling pretty fast.

"Do you know who she is?" he asked when the Doctor didn't seem to plan further explaining things.

"I think so," he said slowly. "Can't be sure, of course. She changed her appearance. Must have regenerated since the last time I saw her…"

"So…?"

"The General."

"That's… kind of obvious," Jack said flabbergasted.

"It shouldn't be surprising, at least," he smiled fondly. "Once a soldier, always a soldier. I should have known. This whole operation… it was so like her! That was EXACTLY what she'd do back in the old days: Blow up a ship and safe the universe all on her own."

"Judging by your excitement, I'd say you're GLAD to see her? And not, you know… terrified she'll try to conquer all of space and time?"

"Oh, she'll try, alright!" the Doctor laughed. "And she'll probably succeed, too! But that might not be such a bad thing. For all I know, the universe would be better off with her leading it."

"NOW I'm curious," Jack said. "What's the story, 'Space Boy'?"

"It's not much of a 'story', really," he shrugged. "It's more of a shared history. We grew up together. Inseparable, us. That is, until we had to look into the time vortex. Remember how I told you I ran? Well, she didn't. She stayed. Stood there for a little eternity. Sucked in everything…"

"I thought you said the ones who didn't run went mad?"

"Oh, she did! Barking mad, that one!" he laughed again. "Became a soldier, her. Jumped into every battle she could find – and believe me, she searched thoroughly. Always right up front. Youngest General ever. That's when she took that name."

"How come she's alive then? Why would she become human? Doesn't seem the type to run away to me," the Captain said and watched the peaceful figure in the Doctor's arms.

"When the war started… Everything changed." A dark shadow crawled across the Time Lord's face and Jack regretted saying anything immediately. "She tried so hard… She tried everything. Seriously, you wouldn't believe the stuff she came up with. She hid inside a Dalek once to 'infiltrate them from within'."

"Let me guess: that didn't work," Jack giggled.

"Oh, it worked, alright!" The Doctor laughed too. "She was so convincing, she helped them rise to power! They worshipped her! The problem was getting out…"

"What did you do?"

"Why do you automatically assume I did anything?"

"Doc."

"Alright, alright!" He chuckled. "Had to burst into their biggest ship, right into the control room, screaming like a lunatic, while she crawled into the TARDIS without anyone noticing."

"And then?"

"What do you think? I RAN, of course!" he said. "What would you do if you were only 500 years old, standing right in the middle of all the Dalek leaders? I ran for dear life, hid inside the TARDIS, jumped into the vortex and had a blast!"

"What kind of idiot tries to infiltrate a Dalek fleet?" Jack laughed.

"Oh Jack… We were hardly more than kids at the time! What are 500 years for someone as immortal as it gets? That is, until you came around," he added. "We thought it was HILARIOUS!"

"Well, I can imagine THAT," the Captain said. "It always is with you."

"Wait until you meet her," he pointed at the girl in his arms. "The exploding ship should give you a general idea, but believe me, that was NOTHING."

"You still haven't answered my question," Jack noticed. "Why did she become human?"

"I don't know," the Time Lord shrugged. "I can only guess. I mean, I didn't even know she did it until just now. I was convinced she had died before I ended the Time War. At some point she suddenly disappeared. Everyone thought she had done what she always did and didn't make it out alive that time. I honestly don't know what happened. We'll have to ask her."

"Then why don't you?" a voice suddenly said and Jack realized the General's eyes were wide open.

So was the watch. The Doctor seemed to have noticed the same things.

"You were always a sneaky one," he remarked, not moving an inch.

"I KNOW!" she said gleefully. "Isn't that awesome? I KNOW. To think I ever chose this dull human life! Remember how we infiltrated the Daleks?"

"WOAH, hold it right there!" Jack said and looked at both of them. "WE?"

"I might not have told you the whole story," the Doctor admitted, not looking a bit sorry.

"Did he blame it all on me again?" the General asked, shaking her head slightly. "As far as I can remember, it was YOUR idea in the first place."

"I was just joking! YOU were the one wanting to go through with it!" he defended himself.

"Why is that MY fault? If the Master wouldn't have made us all so drunk we barely remembered our own names, we wouldn't have done ANYTHING!" she explained with a voice that made clear she didn't regret any of it.

"WHAT?" Jack asked gobsmacked. "The Master was there too?"

"Of course he was! He was the maddest of all of us! We didn't do anything positively suicidal without him!" she giggled.

"You'll have to explain THAT," the Captain said, definitely surprised now.

"The Master wasn't always as bad as you experienced him," the Doctor said silently. "He used to be different. The three of us… We used to change whole worlds in the blink of an eye! We started wars by accident and ended them just as easily. We did everything together. But…"

"But we parted ways," the General explained.

"I meant to tell you," the other Time Lord sighed defeated. "He's gone. I'm sorry."

"I know. They all are," she said and it was silent for a second.

"Weeell…" He shifted uncomfortably. "I'm afraid that's not all there is to the story…"

So he told her. He told her everything. And at the end of it, both of them were crying. Jack felt very awkward, like he was intruding in some way, even though he didn't do or say anything. He felt he shouldn't be here. He didn't like the Master one bit, didn't HAVE all those fond memories of him the other two seemed to share. All he had was that one year that never was, and that wasn't anything he wanted to think about.

"I don't blame you," the General said finally, after they both had calmed down a bit. "It's not your fault. We both knew that it was only a matter of time. He couldn't… It wasn't anything he could control… That blasted drumming in his head…"

"I know. I know, he didn't stand a chance," the Doctor said and captured her in a tight embrace. "I just wish you could have seen him one more time."

"Oh, it's probably better this way," she shrugged. "I would have just exterminated the bitch that killed him."

"To be fair, he DID kill a lot of people himself," Jack offered.

"Oh, I get THAT!" She waved it off. "I'm not saying he didn't deserve it. He had it coming. What I'm pissed about is that stupid floozy marrying my husband!"

"Come again?" Jack could honestly say that never before, not once in his pretty long lifetime, he had been this unwilling to accept a fact.

His brain struggled to understand what the General had just said, but it just… shut down, refusing to put the pieces together. They had been inseparable. Of course SOMETHING had been bound to happen.

"The Master and the General were married," the Doctor explained like it was the most natural thing in the world. To Jack, it was like…

Right, he reminded himself, like YOU'RE one to talk. Fixed point and stuff.

"I cannot believe a beautiful lady like yourself would be married to such a bastard," he said honestly.

"Uh-oh…" the Doctor said and shifted a bit away from the woman beside him.

"EXCUSE me?" she said, and the way she did it… Jack knew IMMEDIATELY that he had said something wrong. Really, really wrong.

"Erm…"

"LADY?" she continued, suddenly seeming to grow a few inches. Or maybe Jack was just getting smaller. "Do I look like a FRIGGIN' lady to you?"

"Oh Jack…" The Doctor sighed and slowly shook his head.

"I didn't become a General so someone could call me LADY!" she screamed and grabbed his coat.

Her face was now dangerously close to his. The Captain could feel her breath against his cheek and he swallowed slowly. He hadn't been scared in a really long time - a side-effect of being immortal - but now he wasn't so sure about his inability to die anymore.

"Please don't kill me?" He tried one of his winning smiles, but it didn't seem to work on her. Or so he thought.

"Relax, Pretty Boy," she said and straightened his coat again. "I could never harm a beauty like you."

"Glad to hear it," he said in all honesty and breathed out in relief.

"So, Doc: where are we heading?" She turned to the other Time Lord.

"Your TARDIS," he shrugged, "You decide."

"What do you mean 'her' TARDIS?" Jack asked confused. "I thought it was yours?"

"Actually, he stole it," the General explained over her shoulder. She was already standing at the controls. "And it's not REALLY mine either. I just built her."

"Really?" the Captain said impressed.

"Oh yes. I built them all," she seemed to think about something, "In fact, I think I built everything useful on this neat little planet of ours."

"I think you might be right about that," the Doctor laughed and joined her at the controls.

"SERIOUSLY?" Jack's mouth was wide open now. "So you weren't kidding about the Vortex manipulator?"

"Honey, please," she waved it off, "That was nothing more than passing some time. Quite literally, come to think of it."

"But… but… You were human!"

"Can't take the military out of a soldier," she chuckled.

"Or the Vortex out of a Time Lord," the Doctor added and pushed a button.

"All of space and time?" They exchanged a quick glance. "What could POSSIBLY go wrong?"

Jack knew the answer to that, and a few hours later, it turned out that he was oh so right.


End file.
